Biosecurity needs a back-up plan

Biosecurity is incredibly important for keeping honeybee pests and diseases out of Australia, and the economic savings of keeping pests like varroa out for longer are demonstrated by Cook et al (2007) in their paper.

Biosecurity is non-negotiable and non-controversial. Nobody benefits more than anyone else out of good quarantine and border security. Everyone gets to run their businesses in a varroa-free environment. Everyone benefits from free feral bee pollination with lower food production costs. Biosecurity is such an obvious and public benefit that it makes sense that the government should fund it through tax.

However biosecurity will not guarantee the safety of the feral bee population. If it was possible to keep varroa out this way, New Zealand would not have varroa. Australia's border security is good, but not as good as New Zealand's, due to the fact that we are a larger country with much closer neighbours than NZ has. It is just a matter of time before varroa or something else that wipes out feral bees gets in and gets established. And that time is going to be a period of chaos for beekeepers and farmers alike, as beekeepers struggle to adapt to the new pest and keep their hives alive, and farmers struggle to find beekeepers to rent hives for pollination.

Realistically, there is no easy way that the government can step in and influence the transition from free feral bee pollination to managed honeybee pollination without benefiting some parties more than others. If the government offers a tax concession or incentive, that will benefit larger businesses over smaller. If they offer a flat rate grant, this will benefit smaller businesses over larger. Even if they offer incentives based on the size of a business, it will help preserve the status quo and instead of cushioning the blow to the affected industries, may simply stifle the development of more efficient business and management practices. At present the honeybee industry revolves around honey production. Simply giving incentives to honeybee businesses to keep them in business is not going to solve the problem of pollinating crops. Especially in a time when countries like India cannot feed themselves, it is vitally important that Australia ensures its own food security, that we can feed ourselves, and that we can improve our balance of trade by exporting food and supplying the world market.

Here is the problem: government interference in the market is bad. It's either unfair or favours the status quo, which is detrimental to everyone in the long run. But on the other hand, something needs to spur the pollination dependent and honeybee industries into action to plan for the transition to managed pollination. Any movement towards growers beginning to actively manage their pollination inputs and beekeepers getting involved in managed pollination will help prepare for the shock of varroa and make the transition easier for all concerned.

The last thing I want to see is a bunch of beekeepers who have worked hard and deserve an honourable retirement to be drafted into providing pollination services to a bunch of farmers who don't understand their pollination needs and resent having to fork out money for this extra expense and inconvenience. That is no way to operate a business or an industry. But that's probably what's going to happen if nobody takes the initiative to plan for an Australia without free pollination from feral bees. There will be much complaining, much resentment, much laying of blame. And all because the focus was on keeping varroa out, and nobody spent any time thinking about how to cope if varroa ever got in.

Government intervention is no substitute for resilience. Planning for life after varroa is about taking stock of the strengths and weaknesses of the affected industries as they stand at the moment, and working out ways to encourage growers and beekeepers to be prepared to adapt and deal with an Australia without feral bees, with a minimum of cost and disruption to all concerned. Realistically, resilience is up to the individual. To be successful after varroa, beekeepers and growers need to think about the problem and how it affects them now, not after varroa hits. Planned change is hard, but in the end forced change is even harder.